Wednesday
May192010
The zen of writing: small things matter
Wednesday, May 19, 2010 at 8:29AM
Sane people don’t come into this business. They don’t want self-created strangers wandering around their head twenty four hours a day. Writing is, it seems to me, ultimately obsessional. The point at which a book becomes optional – maybe I’ll finish it, maybe not – is often the point at which at dies.
Obsessional people need to arrange their lives correctly. I know writers who can’t work without having their desks settled in the ‘right’ order, with the ‘right’ pens in the ‘right’ places, even though they rarely if ever get used. I’m only mildly obsessional in this respect. Here are a few of my fixed requirements for a working day at home.
First, the view. When I look outside the window by my desk I see this.
It’s sunny today. That long cold winter seems finally to have come to an end. I’m pleased about this but make no mistake. The writing goes a lot better when it’s grey and raining out there.
I find it difficult writing unless I’m near a window. I like looking out and reminding myself there’s a world out there, one I’m trying to record I guess. Don’t ask me to analyse it further than this. I can’t.
I’m obsessional about the things I touch when I’m writing. Principally the keyboard and mouse. Here’s the current set.
That is a very battered Apple ‘chiclet’ keyboard. It deserves to look well worn. I’ve typed something like 300,000 words on that thing. Something about the keys makes them easy to use. It’s quiet too. I can’t handle clacky keyboards.
The mouse is a wireless Logitech Performance. It’s big which suits my hands and – this is a killer point – the wheel on the top scrolls when you spin it. The spin carries on so there appears to be a physical relationship between the window on the screen and the thing in my hand.
I like that. Don’t know why.
I am using this Apple keyboard on Windows at the moment though (am taking a break from the Mac). It works, but a little oddly at times. So I’m also looking at this new Microsoft Arc keyboard which has very much the same idea.
Not had enough time to reach an opinion yet.
Screens. Big, and one only. I currently use Apple’s ridiculously overpriced 24 inch LED Cinema Display. Lovely piece of kit. Would never have bought it if I understood Apple had given it a connector that meant you couldn’t hook up a PC or even an older Macwithout paying £100 for a signal converter even if you pay £100 for a signal converter they sell from the Apple store which is supposed to work but doesn't. There has to be something better around but this is what I have. For now anyway. Tomorrow I may dump Apple from my life altogether.
I cannot revise a printed manuscript with anything but a red Biro.
Also I cannot go through a satisfactory day without taking this thing for a stroll and having a – usually very one-sided – conversation about the work in progress.
Those are all the small obsessions I can think of for the moment. They make a kind of sense to me anyway.
Obsessional people need to arrange their lives correctly. I know writers who can’t work without having their desks settled in the ‘right’ order, with the ‘right’ pens in the ‘right’ places, even though they rarely if ever get used. I’m only mildly obsessional in this respect. Here are a few of my fixed requirements for a working day at home.
First, the view. When I look outside the window by my desk I see this.
It’s sunny today. That long cold winter seems finally to have come to an end. I’m pleased about this but make no mistake. The writing goes a lot better when it’s grey and raining out there.
I find it difficult writing unless I’m near a window. I like looking out and reminding myself there’s a world out there, one I’m trying to record I guess. Don’t ask me to analyse it further than this. I can’t.
I’m obsessional about the things I touch when I’m writing. Principally the keyboard and mouse. Here’s the current set.
That is a very battered Apple ‘chiclet’ keyboard. It deserves to look well worn. I’ve typed something like 300,000 words on that thing. Something about the keys makes them easy to use. It’s quiet too. I can’t handle clacky keyboards.
The mouse is a wireless Logitech Performance. It’s big which suits my hands and – this is a killer point – the wheel on the top scrolls when you spin it. The spin carries on so there appears to be a physical relationship between the window on the screen and the thing in my hand.
I like that. Don’t know why.
I am using this Apple keyboard on Windows at the moment though (am taking a break from the Mac). It works, but a little oddly at times. So I’m also looking at this new Microsoft Arc keyboard which has very much the same idea.
Not had enough time to reach an opinion yet.
Screens. Big, and one only. I currently use Apple’s ridiculously overpriced 24 inch LED Cinema Display. Lovely piece of kit. Would never have bought it if I understood Apple had given it a connector that meant you couldn’t hook up a PC or even an older Mac
I cannot revise a printed manuscript with anything but a red Biro.
Also I cannot go through a satisfactory day without taking this thing for a stroll and having a – usually very one-sided – conversation about the work in progress.
Those are all the small obsessions I can think of for the moment. They make a kind of sense to me anyway.
Reader Comments (3)
David,
Sorry to post an unrelated question but you've mentioned using Apple Pages recently. I just wondered, at what point in the writing process do you move away from Scrivener to Pages and what function does it serve?
Kind Regards
Few articles on this if you search for 'Pages' in the search field. Here's one...
http://davidhewson.com/2010/04/07/getting-some-perspective-on-your-work/
OH David. I do love this post. I'm a little obbsessional myself, but you knew that already. I find it interesting we have the same mouse. From what I can tell, it's the same color. Go figure. My keyboard is so used the letters are missing. Thankfully all those years teaching keyboarding has made it so that I don't need to see the letters on the keyboards, i get there by feel. I have one of those keyboards that has the big bump in the middle so that my wrists aren't in total pain by the end of the day.
My biggest quirk when it comes ot writing in my office is that I cannot sit with my back to a door. This literally makes me crazy and paranoid, well more crazy and paranoid than usual. When I'm in the zone, I hear nothing, see nothing but the characters and story in my head and my kids have this horrible habit of walking into my office (even when the door is shut) to remind me it's my motherly duty to cook them food or drive them to school or help them with homework or solve their boyfriend/girlfirend problems. I also need to see the window, so I position my ubnoxioulsy large external screen in the direction of the window and tilt my head so i can read what i'm writing while taking peeks at the bunny that lives in my bushes.
Oh, and every spring the dead come back to visit me. This damn bird, every spring, shows up and sits on the bush, then flys into the window and then repeats the motion until it ends up flat on it's back near the bush. Every year. Makes me crazy.